He fluttered his young hands vainly, – he was falling, – and in that terror he remembered. Those arms, that had seemed to uphold him, relaxed. He longed for one draught of flight to quench the thirst of his captivity: he stretched out his arms to the sky and made towards the highest heavens.Īlas for him! Warmer and warmer grew the air. He forgot Crete and the other islands that he had passed over: he saw but vaguely that winged thing in the distance before him that was his father Daedalus. But when a great wind filled their wings, and Icarus felt himself sustained, like a halcyon-bird in the hollow of a wave, like a child uplifted by his mother, he forgot everything in the world but joy. The wide vacancy of the air dazed them, – a glance downward made their brains reel. The hateful ground of Crete sank beneath them and the country folk, who caught a glimpse of them when they were high above the tree-tops, took it for a vision of the gods, – Apollo, perhaps, with Cupid after him.Īt first there was a terror in the joy. The father bird put on his wings, and, while the light urged them to be gone, he waited to see that all was well with Icarus, for the two could not fly hand in hand. The day came, and the fair wind that was to set them free. Who could remember to be careful when he was to fly for the first time? Are birds careful? Not they! And not an idea remained in the boy’s head but the one joy of escape. “Remember,” said the father, “never to fly very low or very high, for the fogs about the earth would weigh you down, but the blaze of the sun will surely melt your feathers apart if you go too near.”įor Icarus, these cautions went in at one ear and out by the other. Without delay, he fell to work on a pair of wings for the boy Icarus, and taught him carefully how to use them, bidding him beware of rash adventures among the stars. He held himself aloft, wavered this way and that with the wind, and at last, like a great fledgling, he learned to fly. When they were done, Daedalus fitted them to his own shoulders, and after one or two efforts, he found that by waving his arms he could winnow the air and cleave it, as a swimmer does the sea. He fastened these together with thread, moulded them in with wax, and so fashioned two great wings like those of a bird. Little by little, he gathered a store of feathers great and small. Daedalus managed to escape from his cell but it seemed impossible to leave the island, since every ship that came or went was well guarded by order of the king.Īt length, watching the sea-gulls in the air, – the only creatures that were sure of liberty, – he thought of a plan for himself and his young son Icarus, who was captive with him. But the king’s favor veered with the wind, and one day he had his master architect imprisoned in a tower. He once built, for King Minos of Crete, a wonderful Labyrinth of winding ways so cunningly tangled up and twisted around that, once inside, you could never find your way out again without a magic clue. Icarus and Daedalus is a story from Greek mythology about a father and son who used wings in their attempt to escape from Crete where they were imprisoned by King Minos, but Icarus didn’t listen to his father and flew too close to the sun.Īmong all those mortals who grew so wise that they learned the secrets of the gods, none was more cunning than Daedalus.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |